Surprise as NCIP summit in Kampala agrees to two pipelines

Uganda agrees with Kenya to develop the oil pipeline route to the port of Tanga while Kenya develops the Lamu route.

— Richard Kabonero (@richardkabonero) April 23, 2016

The 13th Summit of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects concluded today with the surprise decision by the regional leaders to give a go ahead for two oil pipelines to be developed, one to Tanga and the other to Lamu.

It had been expected that one route would be picked, after a viability study reportedly indicated the route to Tanzania was better. Kenya however had threatened to go it alone with the route to Lamu, and the summit seems to have given them a green light.

“I have agreed with President Uhuru Kenyatta that the two pipelines go ahead,” Summit chair President Yoweri Museveni said.

Most of Uganda’s export of future crude oil production will however be through a new pipeline to be built through Tanzania rather than Kenya.

“We have agreed that the oil pipeline route be developed from Uganda in Hoima to the Tanzanian port of Tanga,” Uganda foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa told AFP.

Kenya will now construct a crude oil pipeline from Lokichar to Lamu Port on her own.

The Joint Communique stated that:

“On Oil Refinery Development, the Summit welcomed the decision by United Republic of Tanzania to invest in the shareholding of the Uganda Oil refinery project.”

“On Crude Oil Pipeline, the Summit agreed that two crude oil pipelines from Lokichar to Lamu and another from Hoima to Tanga will be developed by Kenya and Uganda respectively.”

The summit directed on 15 other issues of interest:

1. Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Development
2. ICT Infrastructure Development
3. Oil Refinery Development
4. Crude Oil Pipeline
5. Political Federation
6. Project Financing
7. Power Generation, Transmission and Interconnectivity
8. Air Space Management
9. Human Resource Capacity Building
10. Commodities Exchange
11. Land for the Infrastructure Corridor
12. Immigration, Tourism, Trade, Labour and Services
13. Single Customs Territory (SCT)
14. Defence, Peace and Security Cooperation
15. Private Sector

(SEE COPY OF COMMUNIQUE FULL TEXT AT BOTTOM)

COPY OF 13th Summit Northern Corridor Integration Projects 2016 by The Independent Magazine